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The Gallery: 'Collage: 100 Years On'

Published On:
29/11/2011

The
Gallery in Zamalek is a new art gallery that recently opened up in the same
apartment as antique store Le Souk just up the stairs from café L'Aroma. The current exhibition at the Gallery is titled ‘Collage: 100 years on’.
The exhibition is inspired by the fact that in 2012 it will be exactly one
hundred years since Braque and Picasso introduced collage as an art form into
the realms of fine art.

The
exhibition showcases the work of several different artists with complete
contradistinctive styles, and so the collection is very diverse. The
exhibition starts with the work of Hisham El Zeiny. Most of his pieces have
soft terracotta colours and depict everyday items such as Turkish coffee
kettles, stars (looking suspiciously similar to the Stella beer logo), carts
and amphora’s alternating with calligraphy.

The work of artist Huda Lufti is
displayed throughout the entire venue and is very interesting. Her work seems
to be inspired by the likes of Andy Warhol and Richard Hamilton. Her most
interesting piece is that of a mannequin head covered in news paper style
headlines saying: ‘No one is a winner in battles between men and women’. We
couldn’t agree more of course. For the
male football fans out there who are convinced that art is boring, you might reconsider after seeing Lufti’s take on a normal football. She collected
pictures from some of the world’s most famous football players and attached
them to two footballs. Of course we don’t advise anyone to actually play with
them.

Another
very interesting artist is Hany Rashed. In his series of collages he has put
the focus on well known prototypical situations of contemporary society which
he has twisted around by adding his own elements. Rashed used pictures from
newspapers and magazines covering a wide range of topics, such as political and
religious events, for his work. All the faces in Rasheds work are whitened
which gives an interesting aspect to the work. Despite the faces being whitened
it’s still fairly easy to recognize Queen Elizabeth, Prince Felipe and Princess
Letitzia of Spain and the Kennedy family. Apart from the royals there is also
an interesting piece about Iran and some pieces depicting everyday life such as
a women shopping in the supermarket and a couple sitting on a square. The city
of Venice and the French language are also recurring themes.

Hassan
Ali’s works differ a lot from each other in the sense that they are either very
bright and colourful or just plain black and white. His work usually depicts
pictures of people and drawings. Mutaz Mohamed El Eman follows a similar
pattern, although his signature style is assimilating pictures of people into
animal shapes.

The
exhibition is absolutely worth a visit because the art is refreshing and some
of the works have a great element of fun.

Ubuntu Gallery's latest exhibition comes in the form of Tawaseen; a vast and beautifully composed exhibition showcasing Egyptian artist Moham Oraby's combined elements of both traditional and modern art. Tawaseen has two translations in the Arabic language; one of them being 'goblets' or 'bowls', while the exhibition itself also proposes another rough translation or adaptation: 'windows of eternity.' Looking at the pieces on display, the first meaning of the word Tawaseen is manifested in the bowls of fruit and cups portrayed in vivid colours and the other meaning can actually be a metaphor for how art itself can be perceived as a window of eternity. Born in in Sohag in 1961, Oraby studied painting in the Faculty of Arts in Luxor in 1984, before earning a Masters in photography at the Faculty of Fines Arts at Cairo's Helwan University. Oraby has participated in many international exhibitions including Washington DC, Damascus in Syria as well as several exhibitions in Egypt. One of the pieces which stood out is an oil painting depicting a table filled with bowls, eggs and fruits cut into pieces; it's a cosy, colourful scene with the objects in the piece entwined within a pastel-green, patterned background featuring leaves and even a lizard. It's a piece that encapsulates and highlights the emphasis the nature; one of the most beautiful sides of Oraby's work. Another painting depicts figures placed within similar settings; a lady in a bright red dress stands in front of a sand-coloured scene. Perhaps using elements of nature seems to be a common denominator in many of Oraby's pieces as fruit pieces appear in several paintings as well as several green plants and leaves. The background shades of Oraby's paintings are quite similar in the sense that he uses mainly pastel shades which work nicely with the foreground colours which are much more intense and vivid. Oil paint seems to be the preferred material for Oraby, which works well creating a furnished surface that reflects the lighting of the gallery space; it's almost as if the fruit bowls and goblets are glistening beneath the beams. If you have ever seen and favoured the delicate creations of British illustrator Beatrix Potter and the languid tones she uses to portray her outdoor, garden scenes, then you're bound to appreciate this exhibition; the entire collection seems to generate a positive outdoor aesthetic as well as a relaxed and pleasant ambiance. The soft green shades all collaborate well with the more vivid yellows, oranges and reds which have been delicately applied onto a hard surface. It is said that Oraby likes to paint scenes that possess energy about them, which he can further emphasise through his own artistic style and choices.

While the late Inji Efflatoun has become known for her colourful paintings, Safar Khan Gallery’s current exhibition shines a light on Efflatoun’s ink-on-paper collection, ‘Freedom After Prison’. Utilising the chosen materials through different techniques, Efflatoun created a diverse collection of sketches, which depicts life in the Egyptian countryside.

In some of the paintings, Efflatoun used staccato pen strokes to form the scene. One of them is ‘Rest Time’, in which the artist drew the masses of resting workers, adding a touch of detail here and there to break the detachment of the outlines.

On the other hand, other paintings boast a flowing outline, especially the ones including palm trees and greenery. In one of the best pieces in the exhibition, Efflatoun not only studies the form of palm leaves, but she also adds a creative touch to this simple form, filling the thin outline of the element with waves of ink, using the wide tip of a black marker.

Merging between the previous two techniques, Efflatoun drew a number of scenes that portray the dwellings of the peasants. For example, in one of the paintings, the artist used a continuous outline to draw the houses, while pen strokes were used to form the shape of other details, like palm trees or straw ceilings. Where necessary, Efflatoun used the wide tip of the marker for creating shades.

Though the different shades of ink are dominant in this exhibition, the gallery shows four paintings in colour, three of which are by Efflatoun herself and the fourth is by the exhibition’s guest of honour, the late Taheya Halim.

While two of Efflatoun’s were placed in near the front desk, making it difficult for the viewer to have a close look at them under the stares of the curators, the third, which portrays the artist while working in a simple set of brush strokes, is placed amidst the other ink paintings. However, being the guest of honour, Halim’s Painting, which depicts a Nubian couple seated on a bench, is centred on the wall facing the entrance.

And whether in colours, or merely painting using ink, ‘Freedom After Prison’ is sheer proof of the artist’s brilliant ability to create animated paintings using different mediums.